ONE of the sublime lessons expressed in nature and the visible universe is law and order. To the seeing eye, the opening petals of a flower disclose wonders of beauty in color and perfection of form; symmetrical yet varied is the veining and outline of each separate leaf in the foliage of a giant forest tree, rising in stately strength from a single root, to trunk, branch, stem, leaflet, all in orderly, beautiful development. An object for contemplation of the world's sages for centuries, has been the majestic harmony of the starry heavens, stretching beyond the farthest ken of human vision into limitless space, controlled by a law and order unseen to the physical senses.
The abstract forms of thought in music and mathematics are expressed by means of certain rules and laws, which the learner must implicitly obey before he can attain freedom in law. By development through the recognition of law, which is a human method of acquiring knowledge, he learns that there is no real freedom outside of this law —since no law presupposes either ignorance or license—and that no true relationship, proportion, or value is found, except by that obedience to law whereby freedom in law is gained through love of it, followed by freedom from the seeming limitations of law and one's own individuality of expression—even as the letter is lost in the spirit. The correct solution of the first problems in mathematics foretells the exactitude of the astronomer's calculations and their unerring results. A child's simple musical demonstration is, in its degree, as definite a proof of certain fundamentals of harmony as the mature exposition of a cultured musician, who by years of untiring devotion to an ideal has unconsciously subdued much of materialism to the mental concept.
As thought approaches the Science of Christianity, which today is bringing a scientific salvation to the world, the primary requirement is to apprehend its rules so clearly that they may be intelligently applied, not only to the overcoming of bodily ills, but also to every phase of mental, moral, or spiritual need, to the affairs of daily living, to the encouragement of all useful achievements, to the development and advancement of those lines of thought pertaining to the true and beautiful, which tend to the purification and betterment of human life and the uplifting of ideals. Knowledge or understanding of these rules is a paramount necessity, and the first step to the scientific attainment of the great possibilities for good revealed by Christian Science. Obedience thereto is a second and no less necessary step, since knowledge unused is of small service to its possessor and certainly of none to any one else.
